Show I PROBLEM FACING CITY CHURCH B Br 81 REV C G H. H SEARS C tr l Secretary Baptist task of supplying a therapeutic for the degenerative diseases TilE THE of f the soul of the city man is big enough to require the operation co-operation of all aU religious faiths It has hM been assumed that the problem of the city church has grown out of the rapid community changes of the last few years The problem is much deeper the problem of the rity city church grows out of the changes in the city man who has to do o with things and p people not known and with forces forles not understood In his daily quest for the utilities values and thrills which the city has bas to offer afTer he joins the daily rhythm of city life a tidal tidd movement of the crowds Under such conditions an individual tends to sink into anonymity ano ano- anonymity I and to cea cease e to feel himself a person Moral restraints are ne seriously seri Ben weakened when contacts contact become thus impersonal and conflicting I The city man lives in a social whirlpool Stimulation has gone beyond the danger point both hoth for health and for morals Neither physical proximity nor the mechanics of communication makes for sympathy The Th dt city man lives in isolation within a multitude of contacts 8 a city is where men die of loneliness in the crowd Aggressiveness on the part of one person or group is met by hy a defensive attitude on the part of others othen Selfa Self assertion is a characteristic characterise tir sin of the city man Nor is there a compensating moral control for the city man It If is doubtful if religion with its tendency toward other worldliness and th the church with its traditional aloofness have helped to m make ke available spiritual spiritual spiritual spir spir- forces released by the discoveries s and inventions invention of n a scientific age Rge The task of supplying a therapeutic for or the degenerative diseases of the soul of the city man is big bilt enough h for the operation co of all religious faiths It is even bi bigger ger than operative co-operative Protestantism |